Ramanand leads North Bergen past Lincoln

In a clash between two of Hudson
Counties best teams, the North Bergen Bruins (5-2) came away with a 33-20
victory over Lincoln (5-2) to clinch a berth in the state playoffs for the
first time in three years, thanks to the play of quarterback Peter Ramanand who
threw two touchdowns and ran for another, and DeBray Tavarez had a huge day for
the Bruins.

Tavarez scored two fourth quarter
touchdowns, and had an interception of a Ronald Butler pass in the second
quarter, that coach Ascolese said was a real turning point for his football
team.

"It's
good for the kids," said North Bergen head coach Vincent Ascolese. "They worked
hard all year. It's a good feeling to be back in the playoffs."

The
Bruins were aggressive all day against the high-powered Lions offense,
containing the talented Ronald Butler for most of the day. Early in the game,
the Bruins set the tone, when the rushed five at Butler on a second and long at
the Lincoln two yard line, and sacked him in the end zone for a safety to open
the scoring.

Later,
in the quarter, the Bruins offense took flight on the legs of quarterback Peter
Ramanand. First he converted a key third down with a 20-yard sprint to the
Lions 25 yard line. Four plays later, Ramanand scored on a 16-yard scamper to
give the Bruins an 8-0 lead.

"We
felt we needed to prove something today," Ramanand said.

Lincoln
would not go quietly. A huge 26-yard completion from Butler to Steven Jones set
the Lions up deep in Bruin territory. After two 10 yard runs by Ty Stevens,
DeShawn Goodwin took the pitch to the left and scored from five yards out to
cut the North Bergen lead to 8-6.

After
Lincoln grabbed a 12-8 lead on Butler's 12-yard sweep, Ramanand brought the
Bruins back with one play that proved to be a big turning point of the first
half.

On
first down at their own 44-yard line, Ramanand dropped back to throw and hit a
wide-open Denzell Leitch for a 58-yard touchdown to take the lead 14-12.

"They
disguise their blitzes with their safety coming in as an outside linebacker,"
Ramanand said. "When they did that it left a guy open, and all I had to do was
step up and throw."

Lincoln
head coach Robert Hampton was not pleased with his defenses efforts. "Missed
tackles," Hampton said. "We had problems with the fundamentals."

With
Lincoln leading 20-14, the Lions defense missed a whole bunch of tackles on
tight end Justin Glennon, who broke free of three tacklers before going coast
to coast for a 60-yard touchdown to give the Bruins the lead they would not
relinquish.